


And the World Mourns

by ParkerStark



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Graphic descriptions of Tony's agony, M/M, Non Graphic Vomiting, The relationship with Steve is very casual and not really important, Tony Angst, Tony Feels, Tony dies, no fix-it, there's no happy ending here folks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-19
Updated: 2014-05-19
Packaged: 2018-01-25 17:12:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1656131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParkerStark/pseuds/ParkerStark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For a man who had been nothing but kinetic energy and loudness and brash words, he's far too <i>still</i> now. Steve just sits back down. Because they failed Tony Stark. And now the world mourns.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And the World Mourns

Steve'd promised he would always be here. That no matter what, if Tony needed him, all he had to was call, and he'd be there. Laying broken, bleeding on a warehouse floor, Tony realized he was going to die alone. He was going to die, sitting in a little cell, on dirt, and there's nothing he could do. The soft blue light in his chest flickered again, and Tony choked off a scream as he could feel his heart stutter, sharpness stabbing through him.

One of his one night stands had gotten angry at him once, and yelled that Tony was going to die alone and hated. That no one would ever love him, before grabbing her clothes and storming out. Tony doesn't even remember what she had been upset about, not really. Those days are mostly a haze of alcohol and self-hate. But Tony has a lover now, and while they're not exclusive, Steve was never cruel to him. They'd started sleeping together out of post-battle adrenaline, and they had a comfortable... _thing_ going. They sleep together, but don't spend the night. No post-sex cuddling.

Basically, nothing that could accidentally be mistaken as a 'relationship'.

And now, blood is slowly dripping down his chest from where they've done their best to rip and tear and pull the arc reactor out, except the blood is dripping to the side now, because he's laying on his side on the ground. It takes too much energy to sit up. The arc reactor is flickering more and more now, bringing quicker surges of pain, and Tony coughing up blood as the metal shreds at his insides. Blood is slowly coming from multiple places in his body.

And Steve isn't here. Steve isn't here, and Tony is going to die alone, and in pain and there's nothing he can do about it. The arc reactor flickers again. It doesn't come back on. Tony's crying now, tears from the _agony_ in his chest as the magnet stops working completely, and the metal starts shredding more and more. He curls his back against the bars, and lets the pain envelope him.

* * *

Steve hears the coroner talking quietly with Maria, who had been the SHIELD agent that discovered the body. Tony finally died of massive internal hemorrhaging and internal bleeding. When asked for time of death, the man hesitates. "Sometime around two in the morning." Steve's going to throw up. The video from the warehouse wasn't sent till three am. The captors never intended for Tony to be alive when the Avengers went after him. Tony had been on a business trip, not due back for two days. They'd got the video in horror, watching Tony slowly die, alone and cold.

They'd thought they'd save him, and they'd snark about this. Instead they'd found a cool body, pool of blood under his head, dripping from his mouth slowly.

Steve excuses himself, steps outside, and throws up the wastecan outside the morgue, and looked up a quiet sound of someone clearing their throat, taking the wet wipe from Natasha. Natasha, who looks normal, but slightly pale, which might as well be shakes and sweating when compared to a normal person. She's also been sick, and he's pathetically, eternally grateful when Sam is the one that steps up to finally talk to the coroner about making arrangements for the body.

* * *

The world mourns. They think Tony Stark died in the line of duty for Avengers, because the only other alternative was to think he died of a heart attack, and Steve refused. He deserved a more respectful death than that. The funeral only has forty or so people, but its broadcast world wide. A few people step up to say small words, but Steve only lays a USO pin on Tony's chest, looking far too still in death. For a man who had been nothing but kinetic energy and loudness and brash words, he's far too _still_ now. Steve just sits back down.

Because they failed Tony Stark. 

And now the world mourns.


End file.
